Demographic, Movement, and Habitat Studies of the Endangered Snail Kite in Response to Operational Plans in WCA 3A | W81EWF 20 SOI 0014

Opportunity Information: Apply for W81EWF 20 SOI 0014

This discretionary federal funding opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number W81EWF 20 SOI 0014) is a cooperative agreement offered by the Department of Defense through the Engineer Research and Development Center to support science and technology research focused on the endangered Everglade snail kite. The project is framed around the reality that the snail kite is restricted in the United States to the South Florida ecosystem, including the Everglades watershed, Lake Okeechobee, the Kissimmee River, and the Upper St. Johns River. Because the species feeds almost entirely on aquatic apple snails, its survival and breeding success track closely with wetland hydrology. In practical terms, changes in water levels, timing, and flow patterns that come from water management decisions can directly influence apple snail availability, which then cascades into changes in kite reproduction, survival, and recruitment.

A key motivation behind the grant is the long-term loss, fragmentation, and degradation of wetlands across central and southern Florida. With more than half of historic wetlands gone and much of what remains broken into disconnected patches, the opportunity emphasizes concerns about habitat connectivity and the birds ability to move, disperse, and recover after disturbances. This matters even more in a system where operational water management plans can shift habitat conditions quickly, potentially affecting prey resources across large areas. The grant also ties into broader Everglades restoration planning, treating improvements in snail kite reproduction as a meaningful signal that critical hydrologic and biological functions are being restored correctly. In that sense, the snail kite is positioned not only as a species in need of protection under the Endangered Species Act, but also as a sensitive indicator of whether restoration and operational water plans are working as intended.

The anticipated work centers on continuing field data collection on snail kite demographics, reproduction, habitat use, and movement across major South Florida wetland units. The geographic scope explicitly includes Lake Okeechobee, the Water Conservation Areas (with the title emphasizing WCA 3A), the eastern portion of Big Cypress National Preserve, and the northern portions of Everglades National Park. The overarching aim is to maintain and expand population monitoring so researchers can estimate population size and trends and connect those trends to environmental change, particularly hydrologic conditions influenced by management. The opportunity is designed to generate actionable information about how water management affects the species and what management actions could better protect the habitat conditions the kite depends on.

The project objectives are comprehensive and cover the full chain from individual survival to landscape connectivity and population viability modeling. They include estimating survival and explicitly assessing how hydrology affects survival, estimating reproductive parameters and how hydrology affects breeding outcomes, and estimating overall population size and population growth rate. Beyond basic monitoring, the work is expected to dig into why recovery may be slowing or stalling by identifying causes of decline or stalled recovery. The opportunity also calls for more advanced population viability analytics, including estimating stochastic population growth rate, estimating the probability of quasi-extinction, and evaluating alternative management scenarios to understand how different operational or restoration choices might change long-term viability. Finally, it highlights movement rates and landscape connectivity, again linking these to hydrology, which reflects the programs concern that fragmented habitat and altered water patterns may limit dispersal and reduce the populations resilience.

Administratively, the opportunity was posted March 26, 2020, with an original closing date of May 30, 2020. It anticipated a single award with an award ceiling of $435,000. The activity is categorized under Science and Technology and other Research and Development (CFDA 12.630). Eligibility is listed broadly as "Others" with clarification referenced in an additional eligibility field, suggesting it may be aimed at specific non-federal partners such as research institutions or other qualified organizations depending on the details in the full announcement. Overall, the grant is structured to support field-based monitoring and rigorous analysis that directly informs hydrologic operations and restoration decisions in WCA 3A and the broader South Florida ecosystem, using the snail kite as both a conservation priority and a measure of ecosystem functioning.

• The Department of Defense, Engineer Research and Development Center in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Demographic, Movement, and Habitat Studies of the Endangered Snail Kite in Response to Operational Plans in WCA 3A" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.630.
• This funding opportunity was created on Mar 26, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 30, 2020. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $435,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for W81EWF 20 SOI 0014

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